29 layoffs planned here by Capital One

KATHARINE SCHROEDER PHOTO
The headquarters of Capital One Bank in Mattituck, where officials are planning 29 North Fork layoffs in September and December.
pb

In compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the New York State Labor Department has disclosed that 29 layoffs are planned by Capital One Bank on the North Fork in September and December.

The act that took effect in February 2009 requires that companies employing at least 50 workers and anticipating layoffs of at least 25 file at least a 90-day notice of that intent with the Labor Department. Those filings are publicized on the department’s website.

Seven people will lose their jobs on or about Sept. 3, with another 22 getting pink slips on Dec. 17, according to the list, which was based on a letter from Capital One officials to the Labor Department, according to its rapid response specialist Frederick Danks.

The reason given for the layoffs, according to the department’s listing, is the economy. It appears that the September layoffs all will be at the bank’s headquarters in Mattituck; only the headquarters at 9025 Main Road is listed as being affected. It was unclear whether the December layoffs would affect branch offices as well.

The contact person at Capital One, vice president for project management Darrell Dragon, hasn’t returned several calls for comment.

The notice indicates that none of the employees to be laid off are union members. They won’t have “bumping rights” — the laying off of a junior worker and his replacement by a senior worker to protect the senior worker’s employment, according to the notice.

In March 2006, when credit-card giant Capital One acquired North Fork Bank, North Fork president and CEO John Kanas tried to allay initial fears there would be layoffs. None of the bank’s 350 employees at the operations center were in jeopardy, he said at the time.

“Capital One doesn’t have a check-processing operation; it doesn’t have a loan-processing operation; it doesn’t have any back office that you would associate with the pure operation of a bank,” Mr. Kanas said then, explaining why there were no expendable workers at North Fork whose jobs were duplicated by someone at Capital One.

He predicted that there would be “a surprising amount of back-office staff” needed to keep the banking operation going.

Capital One’s Hibernia Bank subsidiary in Louisiana and Texas was no threat, he said, because under the organizational chart, Hibernia was to come under the North Fork umbrella, Mr. Kanas said.

He predicted considerable growth in banking activities resulting from the Capital One relationship. The North Fork name disappeared in 2008 when all branches took on the Capital One name.